New Delhi, January 30 (KMS): In a major development in India, all political parties of Nagaland have decided to boycott the forthcoming Assembly elections if the political solution to the Naga issue doesn’t reach a conclusion.

Eleven parties including the ruling Naga People’s Front have decided not to contest the elections scheduled to be held on 27 February, agreeing to the demand of tribal bodies and civil society groups to resolve the protracted Naga issue first. The decision came at a meeting called by the Core Committee of Nagaland Tribal Hohos and Civil Organisations (CCNTHCO) and attended by altogether 79 members and representatives of 11 parties.

“It is the unanimous view of the Naga people that the political solution or Naga peace accord is more important than elections and therefore, it has become imperative that the elections to the legislative assembly of Nagaland be deferred for peace and tranquility,” read a joint declaration signed by the parties. The political parties of Nagaland have decided not to go ahead with filing of nomination papers for the February 27th Assembly elections if the political solution to the Naga cause doesn’t reach a conclusion, it added.

A recent all-party meeting in Dimapur took the decision to come together in the greater interest of the state in solidarity with the call “Solution Before Election”. It also decided to defer the Assembly elections and allow the Naga political process to reach its logical conclusion by giving space and time to the negotiating groups to bring out an early solution. This was supported by Nagaland’s tribal elders’ body called the Naga Tribal Hoho, most of the militant groups and NGOs.

It is to mention here that the people of Nagaland don’t have a sense of belonging to any country including India. They have been engaged in a struggle to form a separate new country, the Greater Nagalim, by incorporating the entire Nagaland, parts of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh ever since New Delhi illegally occupied these territories at the end of British rule over the Indian subcontinent in 1947.